Something Like an Astronaut

For years now I have struggled with the teaching and format of my spiritual covering (am I alone in this?).  I love my pastors.  Love my spiritual family.  But the WAY and the FUNCTION of this little group has consistently challenged me and taken me way out of my comfort zone.  Every time I tried to leave God told me to stay.  It seems I have no problem hearing Him when my will conflicts with His…And so I’ve stayed. And stayed. And stayed. And it wasn’t until this past Sunday that I glimpsed a little more of the reason He was having me stay.  I started to see the VALUE of what we were learning. 

My pastor shared “training up sons is similar to training up an astronaut; it’s a different orientation”.  And since I had just seen the movie Gravity the day before, I had a clear picture of what he was saying.

While watching Gravity I was pretty much afraid the whole time.  There were so many dangers lurking in space.  This vast, open field of emptiness was overwhelming to me and I felt there was just nothing to hold on to.  I kept telling myself “there is NO WAY I’m ever going to space!”  It was a lack of control over my environment that was causing me to feel this way.  In space there is a whole new set of rules to play by and if you don’t know the rules then you surely can not be an effective astronaut.  An effective astronaut is trained to adapt to this new environment and carry out the mission they’ve been given.  This mission is for the benefit of many and so it is vital that it be fulfilled.

My pastor’s reference to “training up sons” is in reference to Gal 4:1-7: 

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out “Abba Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 

What I understand from my current teaching and from this passage is that Christ’s authority and power is given to those who are mature in Him; those who are Sons.  We are in the hour that God is calling for His children to grow up into Sonship.  This sonship will feel uncomfortable, it will look very different from our history as a body in the past.  There will be a new language and a new way of functioning but those who have an ear to hear what His Spirit is saying will respond accordingly because they are His sheep and they know His voice.  It will thwart the religious mindset and instead of the linear, Greek perspective we will adopt and are currently adopting a Hebraic, eternal perspective. Instead of leaders being at the top of the pyramid they will be at the bottom, undergirding their flock and equipping them in their own call to leadership.  It is exactly what Christ did when He came and walked the earth, however we drifted away from the basics and tampered with His faith and teachings until they were something we were more “comfortable” with. Something we could control.  Something more earthly, and temporal.  Yet Christ is making us into astronauts.  People who can be entrusted to be released into galaxies, make friends with the planets and play with the sun.  It is a glorious call, one that allows us to experience Elohim in a way we never can if we stay earthly minded.  If we do not take the limits off.  Do not leave our comfort zone.  His ways are higher than ours and He is beckoning that we come up higher.  The preparation and training He provides in this season is with the intent that we will do just that.

SHALOM